


Loki's Last Trick

by chiefson



Series: The Saga of Three-Bodied Loki [1]
Category: Norse Religion & Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 21:36:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14005317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiefson/pseuds/chiefson
Summary: Includes brief non-explicit myth-typical torture of Loki.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kadorienne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kadorienne/gifts).



> Includes brief non-explicit myth-typical torture of Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Includes brief non-explicit myth-typical torture of Loki and Sigyn.

Loki the Trickster, from fire by Fate fashioned,  
Most cunning-minded in all the Nine Worlds,  
Bound underground by the guts of his child  
Narvi the Hapless, by Odin murdered,  
Blinded and burned by drops of snake's venom  
In spite of the tireless efforts of Sigyn  
His wife, ever-faithful, did ask of her, "Dear one,  
What do you desire, of all things encompassed  
By Ygdrassil's vastness, above any other?"  
"Our family's vengeance, O husband," said Sigyn.  
"And humiliation for over-proud Odin."  
"If I enact this," said Loki, "will you, wife,  
Bide here without me for many long ages,  
Until at last hearing the echoing silence  
That marks the conclusion of Odin's last battle?"  
"I will, my beloved," said Sigyn. Then Loki  
Recited, as only the people of Midgard  
Had done before that time, a prayer of devotion.  
"O Nornir!" said Loki, "I long to present you  
With offerings, chosen to show that I love you."  
Then did three women, of Fate's thread the spinners,  
Appear in that cavern. "You, ill-fated Trickster,"  
Said Skuld the Foreteller, "would show that you love us?"  
Skuld laughed aloud. "We accept your devotion!"  
"To you, Urd Past-Keeper," said Loki, "I offer  
In sacrifice my Bonds of family and kinship  
With my wife, my parents, and my sons and daughter.  
And to you, Verdandi, who rules present moments,  
I offer my Nature. The flame of my being  
Is now in your keeping." Thus Loki was altered,  
From hungering fire to still, patient crystals  
Of ice, like the giants of far-away Utgard.  
And in that remaking were all his hurts cured.  
"To you, Skuld, Foreteller who sees all that will be,  
I offer my Name, Loki." Then did that giant  
Slip from the bonds that had held him in torment.  
Loki-That-Was found his way to his freedom  
Long before Ragnarok, outwitting Odin.  
But Fate was not broken, as soon shall be told here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the line spacing makes it hard for you to read I'll change it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Includes brief non-explicit (I think) myth-typical torture of Loki and Sigyn.

"Quickly, my sisters," said Skuld, "to your weaving!  
Fate must have Loki to keep in this cavern.  
Let us create him before Heimdall sees us."  
First with the fire, and then with the Kin-Bonds,  
And then with the Name did they weave a new Loki.  
They bound him with gut-ropes and left him to Sigyn.  
Mindless and burning, he looked at the woman.  
Then all at once, through the Wife-Bond he loved her.  
"Who are you, woman?" said this newborn Loki.  
"O my beloved," said Sigyn, "the torment  
Of this evil cavern has sent your wits flying.  
I, your wife Sigyn, say that you are Loki,  
Most cunning Trickster, betrayed by wise Odin,  
Once your blood-brother. He murdered our child,  
Whose guts are these bindings. Your five other children  
He uses most cruelly." "How shall I avenge them?"  
He asked her. "In battle, my dear one," said Sigyn.  
"At grim Ragnarok when all worlds have their ending  
And are made anew." Then fire-born Loki  
Felt grief through his Kin-Bonds and pain from the venom  
That spilled from the bowl when good Sigyn's hands trembled.  
He writhed in his rage and the Earth shook around him.  
Far in the dark at the edge of the cavern,  
The nameless ice-giant conferred with the Nornir.  
"Urd," said the giant, "with you I would bargain.  
I hold in my mind all the memories of Loki.  
From that vast store I would give a choice morsel:   
The year in which Odin first met clever Loki  
And called him blood-brother, an oath soon betrayed."  
"I accept," said the Norn. "What boon shall I grant you?"  
"Far would I wander across your dominion,  
The Past," said the giant. "So be it," Urd told him.


	3. Chapter 3

That clever giant, escaping the cavern,  
Went his way northward and back through long seasons.  
He stopped at last on a plain like a mirror  
Reflecting green light-trails in star-speckled blackness.  
There he found ice-giants, artless and wild.  
No house or hall did they know or imagine.  
The magic of Loki he worked there among them,  
Cracking the ice-plain and piling it upwards.  
Glittering Utgard he built for that people.  
They, being amazed, did take him for their ruler.  
Then Utgard-Loki he chose for his king-name,  
To honor the Trickster whose knowledge he carried.  
Well he remembered how, in his past-future,  
His other-self came with great Thor and two servants  
To Utgard, to challenge the mighty ice-giants,  
And then how the Thunderer and his companions  
Trudged, beaten, back toward the proud heights of Asgard.  
Soon came to Utgard's king that fore-known contest.  
Great was his mirth when his guests strove against him.  
One day Utgard welcomed a lost son of Loki.  
Vali, wolf-shaped, was by ice cured of heat-madness.  
Well-beloved kinsman the ice-giants called him,  
The son of their king by the rite of adoption.  
By his new father was his wolf-coat loosened,  
To put on or take off as Vali might wish it.  
Utgard, well-hidden since Odin's son left it,  
Disdained to send soldiers to Ragnarok's slaughter.   
The ice-giants patiently waited and listened  
For silence surrounding the feasting of ravens.  
Then Utgard-Loki, fulfilling a love-vow,  
Sought out Loki's widow, her duty behind her.  
She took his hand gladly, and in him discovered  
The best of the husband she lost in the battle.  
In his high hall she embraced her dear Vali,  
And held proper rites for her poor, murdered Narvi.  
For Sleipnir and Fenris and great Jormungandr  
She mourned with her husband, so well did she love him.  
As Queen of Utgard she bore many children,  
Gleaming ice-brothers and sisters for Vali.  
Strong was their magic and keen was their cunning,  
More than a match for the new king of Asgard.  
Happily Queen Sigyn dwelt in the ice-city,  
Happy her folk till the end of their time,  
Mocking the futile pronouncement of Odin.


End file.
